Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-11-23
The PURITAN FESTIVAL.
The Observance of the Annual Day
of Thanksgiving.
Some Sober Thoughts for Reflection
Religious SERVICES and Amusements
-General Observances.
THANKSGIVING THOUGHTS.

THANKSGIVING THOUGHTS. 7
Tomorrow will be Thanksgiving day. I
1t is an occasion devoted by official pros
and christian custom to a sort
Of review of the public blessings and good
gifts showered upon mankind in the lump
and at wholesale, while the retail benefits
which are taken by families and individ-
uals are sometimes lost sight of. The
Thanksgiving idea says one writer, should
be turned around. If the state is moved
to grateful acknowledgement of its vir>
tues, it is because the virtues of private
life have been sustained and are reflected
in the commonwealth If the state send
up its prayers of thankfulness for peace
and plenty it is because the individuals
who compose it have led well ordered
lives and are prosperous. 1t is the in,
diyidual dividend that should be consid
cred and while it is true that for this,
every day should be day of Thanksgiv-
ing and every night season of grateful
prayers to the source of every good and
perfect gift there is propriety in dedicat.
ing one day to a general acknowledges
ment. Tomorrow, then, parents should
be thankful for wholesome and obedient
children, for the spirit of care>keeping
and industry which enables the support |
of the shelter of home for the families |
cast upon their care. They should be
thankful for the youthful promise that is
to be redeemed not only in kindness and
care for them in their age and weakness,
but for the prospect that the young whom
they train to filial obedience will make
good men and women, patriotic citizens
and reputable members of that larger
society which we call state. If in any
| way there have been parental failures
through impotence, inattention or the
restraints of weakened health, it is reason
for thankfulness that life Is still spared in
which to correct errors of conduct to
regain health and strength and make
home all that the ideal home should be.
In the relations of neighbor and friend,
that lie next to those within the family,
thankful should We be for those who
tighten our lives with ennobling social
intercourse, who pity us in our misfor>
tune and come to our help in sorrow,
with kindly hands soothing our way when
it is darkened by mortality in whose
shadow our lives lie from the cradle to
grave,
let the children of each house be
taught thankfulness for the roof that
shelters them, the parents who attend to
their daily wants-guard and care for
them by day, comfort their childish
griefs, and kiss them each good night as
they 90 to happy dreams and sleep.
The youth of more years should be
thankful that they are repaying the cares
and tenderness which were around theil
infancy, the nights of wakeful watching
the training which fitted them for life
and those who have been ungrateful, wht
have been untrue to the trusts committed
to them by their parents, who hav
strsyed into forbidden ways. who hav
foolisbly spent and recklessly squandere,
the hard earnings of their father AM
wrung their mothers heart, with tina
keenest of sorrow, inflicted by ingrati
tude. let them be thankful that life re
mains to them and stretch of years i
which to amend their conduct and begi
that obedient behavior and propriety {
conduct which will bless their lives whe
their fathers and mothers are under tt
sod. Let them be thankful that they ca
turn from evil ways and corrupt compaI
ionships before it is too late. L.
them remember how the night lam
burned so long and YEARLY 10 the silel
hours while their mothers watched tir
lessly over their cradles and in the sicl
ness and pain of their infancy, and th'
reflect that now it fiickers into the SIN,
hours, while the same mother in her az
and intirmity losses upon a pillow tn
knows no sleep, as she listens for TIT
returning footsteps while they riot a
run with the base, the drunken and
dissolute, to come at last with unstea
step and tread, with cruelty worse tn
- death. upon the hearts that ache for th
misconduct. Let these shameless CT
dren tomorrow give thanks that they c
retrsce their Maynard ways. retreu
their heartless courses and return to
paths of obedience and respect and so |
the debt which they must pay while til
parents live and can forgive them, or Il
must pay it later on in disgrace, in
and rags in the gutter and in prison,
there is no spell in nature. no power
influence which gives pardon TO the {
solute son and daughter who breaks
hearts that were kind TO their infancy
leaves them broken.
X This may be filter subject for prea
ers' words, but now and then the me-
gatherer may talk of other things t
street gossip and the doings of the
PEIJGJOus oRSERvANcES
Services will be held in the Cath
churches in commemorstion of the
There will be services at Trinity CHI
at 10 a. m, and 1880 p. NJ, with serl
by Rev. R. F. Sweet
With the exception of Trinity,
protestant churches of the city will u
in Thanksgiving service at the FRS
E. church tomorrow morning at
o'clock The pastor, Rev. G. W.
will preach sermon appropriate tc
occasion.
IN THE WAY OF AMUsEMENTS.
Manager Steel, realizing the i'm
lance of having something more thai
binary, has arranged with the fal
Dunlap Opera company for two e
tainments at Harpers theatre-'Indi
Al